Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-03-28
LONDON. March ol

cnCeQs
LONDON, March 27.
ne Coronet arrived off Queenstown at
ll.5o this forenoon. Nothing then had haan
seen of the Dauntle.s. N 'e'"
70 .' ne ooronet passed the winning point at
lz.4l under full press of canvass. the wind
al that hour being W. N. W. and fresh.
In passing the given line, Roche's Point
tne vic orlous yacht fired FIVE guns and the
time was at once taken by the secretary and
members OF the ROYAL Cork Yacht Club. who
mad been on the lookout :or her arrival. The
cluo then hoisted the signal Announcing tho
Ioronets arrival, the various stations an.
swetlog the pennant. The wind wa, blowing
nard anc the Coronet entered Cork harbor
III spanking style with all sail set and hing
sihg the western shore. The apparent time
passing Is IA days, % hours, "a minutes and
20 seconds and the actual time computed in
ufeenwlch basis is IA days, 10 hours, 3 min
u'es ana IA sesonds. The whole number of
nautical miles is 2949 The longest DAVIS
run is Z9l miles, made yesterday, and the
shortest 1913 miles, made Tuesday, March
Emu Ihe average was from 230 to $50
miles.
Inc weather was uncommonly tempestuous
- 49, '"i' S0deOh VI The year. NO less
than seven heavy gales contrived to keep the
sea III a foment for eleven days of the trip
aho Tor two days the weather was so severe
as to make the question of the Yachts living
through them somewhat Doubtful She be.
haved splendidly, however, in all sorts of
weather and proved herself one of the
staunchest if not one of the fastest vessels OF
her type af1oat. No accidents happened to
any OF her sailors, despite the great risks
they were compelled to run at times. Witt
the exception OF three torn sails and a little
broken tackle everything on board the boat
was in good shape.
IL Is thought that much quicker passage
might have been made had Capt. Crosby car.
rled more sails. On several occasions when
the wind was light but the weather threaten.
ing, he was very cautious and his Judgment
was controlled largely by the barometer,
which most of the time was below 20, seldom
above 30, tae nominal height in the latitude
trsversed. The course made was a little
more northerly than was thought safe, but no
icebergs or ice-fields were encountered. The
number of persons on board the Coronet was
"a, including l6 sailors, five officesrs, stew
ard, cook, mess.boy and five guests. The
officers were: Capt. C. P. Crosby. navigat-
or; t. b. c. Anderson, w A. Whittier and
Otto Peterson. mates; Augustus Berkholm,
boatswain. The advantage gained by the
Coronet at the start increased the confidence
of those on board. Itw the first time Capt.
Crosby ever participated in a yacht race of
any sort. 1t is not too much to say that in
his man@uv.es he displayed more judgment
and tact than is usually seen in races near
New York, and after taking the anchor on
board on the morning of the start, he beat
about the bay off Owls Head surveying the
water and verifying the position of baoys II
and l9, between which she must pass after
the proper signal was made from the judges
tug. When the preparatory signal was
given the Coronet was making the reach-up
buoy with her head toward the battery
Crosby held the wheel and by his side was
Capt. Anderson, watch in hand, counting the
seconds. Seven minutes from the time of
the first signal Crosby ordered the helm
"hard alec" to bring the boats head around
She fairly flew before the strong northerly
wind AS it had been arranged that the
starting signal would be given ten minutes
after the preparatory signal, it seemed proba-
BILE that the Coronet would reach the line
fully minute before the second signal,w when
it would be necessary to go about again, thus
causing a considerable loss of time. Crosby
was equal to the emergency, however, when
he realized what was imminent. and spilled
the wind out of the sails by trimming fiat
ait, bringing the big >chooner almost to a
standstil When the signal was finally
gwen he paid out the sheets fore and aft, ran
up the squsr.sail. forestaysail, and topsails.
aud in thirty seconds had the Coronet across
the line.
The Dauntlvss, it will be remembered, was
off Gowaaus about a mile away, with her
stern toward the judges boat.
Every possible stitch of canvass was spread
on the Coronet as she sped through the mar
rows at the rate of 13 miles an hour, sur
rounded ty tugs, steamers and steam yachts.
Once or twice, when under the ice OF the
highland, 1t seemed as though her spponent
was gaming her lost ground rapidly, but
when the wind filled her sails she left the
Dauntless further astern than at the s,Art.
The tortuous swash channel having been
followed to the ocean, Sandy Hook light
house bore west by south and the open sea
portion of the trip began. The course laid
was east by south. The sky was clear aud
the breeze, which had veered round to the
northeast, had freshened
When the excursion boat Bay Ridge,
which was only one of the feet of steamers
which was to accompany the racing yachts
as far as Sandy Hook lightship, turned hack
at about =. 40, the relative pOsilOHs VI tuc
schooners were nearly the same as when they
passed through the narrows. The wind was
now greatly increased, heavy sea running
abeam. The first Sunday was marked, as
were the seven succeeding days, by gale
which came from the northeast soon after
midnight. Although fairly moderate 1t was
accompanied by strong head-sea, which
made the Yacht labor heavily. Heavy seas
often broke over her bows, but she rode it
ont we'll under close reefed fore and main
sails and Jib and averaged ten miles an hour
on the course throughout. She would meet
and mount wave as easily and gracefully as
a swan. The only damage was the parting
of the iron twin buckle of the starbosrd bob
stay. This was quickly replaced with double
block tackle. To the FIVE fresh water sailors
who had taken passage in the saloon, the
moyememeuts of the yacht seemed somewhat
erratic, and all but one man who had trav-
elled over deep water enough to entitle him
to be called son of Neptune, quickly sue
cumbed to seaslckness.
Sunday noon the Corenet bad sailed 248
nautical miles. The succeeding day was
busy one for the sailors. Both watches were
on deck during part of the "a hours. The
wind was so light, putting and capricious
that it required almost continued changing
of sail and hauling of sheets. The sea con-
tinued turbulent and the yacht at times rolled
an violently as to threaten the stability of the
spars. The pressure OF wind against the
ma;nsail was not sufficiety to hold the gaff
steady and when it appeared probably early
in the morning, that the swaying OF the gan
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